Book review: Art Of The Hot Rod, by Ken Gross and photography of Peter Harholdt

above is the softcover edition cover, below, the 2009 hardcover cover

by the number (thank you John for that phrase!)
20 Chapters
122 pieces of paper between the covers

Quality photos. Well, this is my usual location to tell you how many hi def, hi res color images you'll find... normally I have to count between old black and white and new hi res hi def. Not this time. Every single photo is a stunning image by Peter Harholdt and without getting every car into a controlled studio environment. Amazing photographer, stunning photos that earn your respect as delivering on your expectations that were formed when seeing the cover, and reading the title

But you aren't reading this review to see that I think it's a deal. You already know I ain't gonna waste your time with a book I don't like and recommend.

So what's inside that's got my admiration? Photos of hot rods that are awesome, both the photos and the hot rods.

You'll think that some of these are museum quality, of course they are. But the So Cal Speedshop Belly tanker wasn't built to be a museum piece. Neither was the So Cal Speedshop 3 window "Kong", the Norman Timbs Special, James Hetfield's 37 Ford 5 window coupe by Rick Dore, the Nuemeister 29 roadster, the Bell 303 Crankshaft Special, the Berardini Bros deuce roadster, the Dick Flint 29 roadster, Eddie Dye's 29 Roadster, the Doane Spencer deuce roadster, and Billy Gibbons' 66 Chevelle and 35 pickup are most definitely not museum cars. They are frequently near museums... http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2011/02/nhra-museum-in-pomona-has-rat-rod-out.html  as the 35 truck was at the front of the Wally Parks NHRA Museum during the 2011 Grand National Roadster Show.

Not museum cars in this book. Not Chip Foose cars. Not Boyd Coddington's cars.

See the connection? Well maybe not yet.

The book is 20 interviews/write ups from Ken Gross (ought to be given a doctorate in hot rods and writing in my opinion, he's all that and a tank of nitro) when he went around the US and got talking with car makers and put into each chapter the interview, opinions, and pages of photos of the cars they've made. Not every one, but ones that you can see demonstrate the masters touch at building, restoring, painting and designing hot rods.

Ridler winners? Probably a couple in here. Out of the 20 builders, a couple have won the Ridler, and the Grand National Roadster award, and the AMBR award, and other awards. These builders are that exquisite in their finished cars, that perfect in their designs.

You know most of them by name, Troy Trepanier, Rolling Bones, Don Orosco, Pete Chapouris, Roy Brizio, Rick Dore, Posies, Bobby Alloway, Alan Johnson... and maybe you know the others, but they were either new to me, or I don't recognize the names but know the cars. You know.. like the car, never meet the builder? I have a lot of those. Thousands.

Back to the book, you can sum up the feeling I got when reading the interviews, with remembering that way some easy going down to earth type of people have when you get a moment to chat with them. No pretentious or unsettling conversation, just satisfying and enjoyable. Ever talk to some one like that? They are famous, genius or accomplished more than anyone else at their skills, but seem as cool as the guys at work? That's the way the interviews read.

I talk to Gene Winfield every time I see him, just to say hi, and damn it's good to see you again. He's that nice, and so are the guys interviewed here. Vern Tardel is maybe a bit like a "What are you doing here" flathead traditionalist in his interview when approached to be in a book about cars that are this beautiful, but I get the sense he's one of the hardworking old timers that is fed up with Boydsters, people wanting to buy his cache of treasured impossible to find hot rod parts, and fiberglass wanna be's. I got no problem with this approach to hot rodding at all.

The others are a bit more business casual, but all seem to have the deep values of made in the USA, no billet, and master craftsmanship that  you expect from the best in the business. For guys like Trepanier that can make million dollar rides, or 100 thou hot rods... to Don Orosco who went back to the bench to build Ardun Heads and Veda Orr knockoffs... or Chapouris who has Thom Taylor and Chris Frogget doing the artwork to set the wheels in motion.

These are the best, with the most incredibly rich traditional ways of not knocking the competition, regarding the 40's and 50's ways of building, and making cars ride like bimmers and benzs when it's apropos.

How they took such great photos without a studio is demonstrated at http://lowreysautorestoration.com/coverage/hotrodart.html

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Book Review: McQueen's Machines, the cars and bikes of a hollywood icon, by Matt Stone, softcover edition

by the numbers
5 chapters
92 pieces of paper between the covers, none blank, none wasted

The form and layout are fine. There is so much to cover and space isn't wasted, only 6 pages are text only, all the rest are both pictures and text.

High quality photos, about half are new, and half vintage photographs. 100 black and white, 135 color

No complaints at all. Since it isn't possible to show a photo of every car, truck, bike, and airplane that Steve McQueen ever had, as I think probably half were likely never photographed, though I'd like to see more photos of the vehicles I don't think that is realistic to expect we will ever find a more complete collection of them than this book.

the chapters divide the book into McQueen's Garage, Screen, Track, Two Wheels, and Enduring Legacy

The 1st chapter covers the '53 Siata 208s, the '58 Porsche Speedster 1600 super, the '57 Jaguar XK/SS, the '63 Ferrari 250 Lusso, the '67 Mini Cooper S, a single photo of a 66 Vette tail and it's whereabouts are unknown, the '67 Ferrari 275 GTS/4 NART Spyder (one of 10 built), Jeep CJ that Von Dutch pinstriped, '69 Porsche 911S, the '52 Hudson Wasp, and has a more brief look and text about the '49 Cadillac series 62, the '57 Bel Air, the 50's 3100 series Chevy truck, and both a '57 and a '68 Ford truck.

Then only text to list the half track Army surplus that he left with Von Dutch in Arizona, a '51 Hudson Hornet, a 53 Allard with a hemi, a '49 Cadillac 4 dr, a '31 Lincoln Club Sedan, a '35 Chrysler Airflow, a '30 Cadillac coupe, a WW2 Willys Jeep, and 3 Packards: a '39 Super 8 four door sedan, a rare Super 8 convertible coupe, and a '40 series 120 convertible coupe.

Mentioned, and with a couple photos are Steve's airplanes, a '41 and '45 Boeing Stearman, and a 1930's  PA-8 Pitcairn Mailwing,

Chapter 2 goes into detail and photos about Steve's movies and movie vehicles, The Great Escape, The Thomas Crown Affair, Bullitt, The Reivers, On Any Sunday, Le Mans, and The Hunter.

Chapter 3 Focuses on Steve's racing before movies, and later in 1968 with the Hurst Baja Boots, in 1969 at Ascot raceway, and Riverside and Sebring in 1970

Chapter 4 gets into Steve's passion for motorcycles, showing photos of 20 of them, and talking about them in great detail.

A Honda CA77 Dream Touring, a Triumph 650, a '46 Indian Chief, a Husqvarna 400 Cross, a '59 Triumph Bonneville, a 1914 Indian Model F boardtrack racer, a 1919 Indian Daytona Twin racer, the 1929 Scott Super Squirrel that Von Dutch restored and I've featured before, a '64 Triumph TR6 ISDT, Honda CR250 Elsinore, 1921 Indian dirt track racer, and his WW1 era Harley Davidson, a mid 1910's Pope, and 1926 Fowler

Chapter 5 is brief, and talks about the legacy Steve McQueen has, how the Bullitt movie was merchandised into Bullitt Mustangs, in both 2001 and 2008 by Ford... how the image of Steve has been used in cool tv commercials, etc.

You finish this book knowing you've had a thorough look at how Steve McQueen's movies and racing combined with the lifestyle and outgoing nature of his racing and motorcycle off roading made him one of the few ultimate car guys. The ones who can buy anything, race - restore - or collect, and decide to have the coolest and most useful cars, trucks, bikes and things that aren't going to just be dusted off and left on battery minders.

Probably the best book you'll find on Steve McQueen's passion for vehicles. Enjoy! 

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